By EMILY MORRIS

The Daily Sentinel

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Dog pedigrees can be a confusing and murky area that experts recommend researching thoroughly.

The 6-year-old Alaskan Malamute, Wakon’s Arctic Iceman, that fatally bit 7-year-old Kate-Lynn Logel in the neck was registered with the American Kennel Club, but that may not be enough.

The Logels had only had the dog for three weeks. They got Iceman and his female companion, Dark Timber, for free from Marla Arnold in De Beque, said Don Page, owner of the home where the incident occurred and the Logel family’s roommate.

Page said Arnold had assured the family there had never been any signs of aggression in either of the dogs.

Arnold was not available for comment.

According to the AKC registration papers, Iceman was bred by Marlene Ross, owner of Wakon kennels in Washington. “They did not get those dogs from me. There was another unscrupulous breeder who bred those dogs together and forged my name on her puppies,” Ross said.

Sue Renkert has been a breeder of Alaskan Malamutes for more than 20 years and is former president of the Alaskan Malamute Club of Alaska.

Renkert expressed no surprise when she heard Iceman was bred at Wakon kennels.

“I have been involved in Alaskan Malamutes since 1980. In all those years the one name that keeps coming up when there are problems is Wakon,” Renkert said.

Renkert said she does not know specifically of any temperament problems with Wakon dogs, but when people call her in Alaska about a problem with a Malamute, in the back of her mind she said she wonders if the dog is from Wakon.

“She has a reputation as a puppy mill, someone who does not recognize quality control in her breeding,” Renkert said. “She breeds for size to the exclusion of other things that are important.”

Renkert said it is possible to register a dog with another kennel’s name, but the name Wakon would generally indicate it was of Wakon kennels.

“I haven’t known of that many Malamutes in my lifetime with an aggression problem, because it does not happen,” Renkert said, calling the dogs big lovable teddy bears. “But when you are breeding for a specific trait, whether it is size or color or something else rather than for overall quality of the breed, you open yourself up for problems.”

Renkert said it is so contradictory to the dog’s nature that one suspects it is a hereditary problem.

Every breeder contacted agreed that a small child should not be alone with a dog, especially not after three weeks.

Chuck McWilliams, a former breeder and the Plum Creek Animal Club delegate to the AKC, said when he sold his dogs he included a clause in the contract stating children under 12 years old were not to be left alone with the dogs.

“You can always build up trust with these animals, but until you have lived with the dog for a long time you have to be very cautious with children,” McWilliams said.

Fruita Police Chief Mark Angelo said the investigation of Logel’s death is continuing.

Emily Morris can be reached via e-mail at emorris@gjds.com.